Well it's been an awful long time since I last updated you on what we're doing down here. I guess it's been difficult because I've not known quite what to say.

It was pretty obvious to us what we were up to in Looe, and there were plenty of things to report on.

Moving down here we really felt that God was calling us to take a break for a while, to forget about everything else and to concentrate on Him. We found ourselves doing a lot of de-churching, stripping back the layers of our theology and practice to what was actually essential. I'm still working my way through a pile of books on this subject that I never seem to find the time to read.

I've seen some similarities between this last 18 months or so and the concept of being a hermit, somewhat withdrawn from society and even other Christians. At times this has been difficult, but at others it has freed us to determine what we believe, what is essential and what we can allow to fall by the wayside.

In the meantime we've given up trying to find the ideal community for us to fit in with and are instead engaging more with the chapel in the village. There may only be a few there, but they're faithful and willing to seek God and His will, so they're our kind of people! I'm now meeting with a couple of the old ladies early every Tuesday morning to pray God into this village and into the lives of it's inhabitants - it's amazing how many people they know between them, we have some catching up to do.

We're thinking up some ways to get to know the people in our street a little more and, inspired by some friends of ours, may well have a bbq in the summer (if we have one) for them all.

I'm planning on writing quite a few posts on my own blog in the next few weeks to start sharing some of the things we've been thinking about, so watch out for those.

Paul says that when all is stripped away you're left with faith, hope and love (to paraphrase a little). If Looe was all about Love (and that did seem to be a recurring theme) that last 18 months seem to have been about faith. I guess that means it's hope's turn next... :-)